Best of The Gazette, March 11: Slow syrup, problem drinkers and ammo hoarders

Boxes of .22-caliber ammunition are becoming increasingly difficult to find, and some who try to resell it often ask for exorbitant prices, Sports columnist D.S. Pledger writes.

The Gazette publishes a lot of news in a week. Combine that with all the distractions a weekend brings, and that means there's a good chance you might have missed some important stories. Here's a look at of some of The Gazette's best content from the last week or so:

They aren't criminals, but police think a few Janesville residents are so troublesome that they've sent an updated list of names and pictures to bars and liquor stores. The message: Please don't serve these people. Initial indications are that the list is doing what police intended, at least in some cases.

Last year, unseasonably warm temperatures in the area took a toll on syrup production. This year, production could be affected for the opposite reason, according to Lena Verkuilen, director of the Welty Environmental Center. “The frost is so deep, it's taking it a long while to thaw in the tree,” she said.

Janesville native Conor Lemirande has been climbing the hockey ladder for years, and it paid off recently with the opportunity to play at the NCAA Division I level. He reached the next rung by verbally committing last week to play for Miami University in Ohio. “Playing in college is something I've always dreamed of,” Lemirande said.

It's a myth that employees are stuck in minimum-wage jobs and need legislation to earn raises, The Gazette Editorial Board writes. These are starter jobs. Anyone with gumption, ambition and intelligence won't stay at such a wage long.

For many years, The Gazette has detailed traffic accidents, crimes and arrests in our primary communities, and we've included names in many of those reports, Editor Scott Angus writes. But things have changed, meaning less of that information is being released to the public. You can thank a troublesome interpretation of the Drivers Privacy Protection Act.

When sportswriter Mitch Albom wrote a book about his favorite college professor, Morrie Schwartz, he had no idea how it would be received. The book became a best-seller and spawned a play, which Stage One will present March 13-16 and 21-23 at the Janesville Performing Arts Center.

A recent Friday night seemed to be one of those evenings when nothing goes quite right, restaurant reviewer Joan Neeno writes. A deer running in front of the car. A crazy driver on the Interstate. And when we arrived at the restaurant she planned to review, it was closed because of a small fire in an adjacent building. That's where the KitCho Japanese restaurant in Fort Atkinson comes in.

The line between news and opinion isn't always clear on social media community pages, community blogger Steve Knox writes. Say what you want about traditional news sources (print, radio and TV) and how they report the news. One thing you receive is a fairly clear line of news versus opinion.

A red-tailed hawk was a frequent visitor outside Glen Loyd's studio on the Rock River— before the eagles began showing up this winter, Loyd writes. But the bird recently returned, making an appearance in this week's video.